Mother's Lap wrote:How do Taranatha's History of Buddhism in India and Buton's differ/compare?

They are very similar. Buston's text is a little shorter but includes an account of the early transmission to dharma to Tibet. Taranatha is focussed only on India but has more detail. He structures his history around the royal genealogies of India, which Buston did not attempt.

Still looking for an English translation of Taranatha's History of the Yamantaka Tantras if anyone's found it since my initial post.

In other news, I was very fortunate to receive a copy of Taranatha's Lamrim as a gift from a friend during my time in the Dharamshala area this year. It's a must have for serious practitioners, and is invaluable no matter what stage of the path you're on. If anyone doesn't already have it, get yourself Essence of Ambrosia: A Guide to Buddhist Contemplations by Willa Baker ASAP!!!

རྗེ་བཙུན་ཏཱ་རཱ་ནཱ་ཐ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།

At a mere 118 pages, the English translation is as lucid as it is pithy. In addition, the entire Tibetan text is included after the English, and at the end of the book are 2 amazing treasures: the Glossary of Technical Terms and Proper Names, and the Glossary of Classificatory Terms with Tibetan.

And the best part? It's not merely a dry summary of the stages of the path, but an actual practice manual with Taranatha's instructions on contemplating what you're reading interspersed with the main text! There's a reason this is the definitive Jonangpa Lamrim, and why it was adopted as one of the principle beginning practice texts by the Kagyu lineage as well!

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

Karma Jinpa wrote:In other news, I was very fortunate to receive a copy of Taranatha's Lamrim as a gift from a friend during my time in the Dharamshala area this year. It's a must have for serious practitioners, and is invaluable no matter what stage of the path you're on. If anyone doesn't already have it, get yourself Essence of Ambrosia: A Guide to Buddhist Contemplations by Willa Baker ASAP!!!

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Karma Jinpa wrote:And the best part? It's not merely a dry summary of the stages of the path, but an actual practice manual with Taranatha's instructions on contemplating what you're reading interspersed with the main text! There's a reason this is the definitive Jonangpa Lamrim, and why it was adopted as one of the principle beginning practice texts by the Kagyu lineage as well!

I second the recommendation. In fact, this text is the basis of my own lamrim practice. I was fortunate to receive a series of direct teachings on this text from one of my Jonang lamas here locally which really opened up the text, and the associated practices, for me. I'm happy to see others are finding it beneficial as well.

May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes,
May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes,
May all sentient beings never be separated from bliss without suffering,
May all sentient beings be in equanimity, free of ignorance, attachment and aversion.

"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")

May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes,
May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes,
May all sentient beings never be separated from bliss without suffering,
May all sentient beings be in equanimity, free of ignorance, attachment and aversion.